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50 pre-fight facts for 'Shogun vs. Sonnen' in Boston

Rua's .500 UFC win percentage (5-5) is the lowest win percentage among top-10 ranked light heavyweight fighters. "Shogun" is winless (0-3) in his UFC career in fights that go to a decision.

Rua has defeated his opponent by knockout in 18 of his 21 professional victories with 16 of those stoppages coming in the first round. All five of Rua's UFC wins are by knockout, and he is tied for the fourth-most knockdowns landed in 205-pound history with six.

Rua's nine leg-lock-submission attempts in UFC/PRIDE competition are tied for second most in history behind Rousimar Palhares (11 attempts).

Sonnen has not earned a victory in the light-heavyweight division since July 9, 2005.

Sonnen has been finished by knockout or submission in 12 of his 13 professional defeats. His lone decision loss came in 2004.

Sonnen's 56.4% takedown accuracy as a middleweight is the fourth best in the division's history.

CO-MAIN EVENT: ALISTAIR OVEREEM VS. TRAVIS BROWNE

Overeem will compete in his 50th professional MMA bout.

Overeem enters the event on the heels of his first defeat since September 2007, a knockout loss to Antonio Silva at UFC 156 in February.

At 6-7, Travis Browne is the second tallest fighter on the UFC roster (Stefan Struve).

URIJAH FABER VS. YURI ALCANTARA

Urijah Faber is a 7-0 in his past seven non-title fights and is 0-5 in his past five title bouts.

Faber owns the longest average fight time in UFC bantamweight history at 15:43. He also owns the most total fight time in the division's history at 1:34:17.

Faber has connected with the second most significant strikes with 305, second only to interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao (308). On the flip side, "The California Kid" has the highest significant strike defense rate in bantamweight history (67.3%).

Faber has earned 16 career submission victories, with 14 of them coming by rear-naked or guillotine chokes. His 10 submission victories in UFC/WEC competition are tied with Nate Diaz for most in the modern era. Only Royce Gracie (11) has more in UFC/WEC history.

Alcantara will fight outside of his home country of Brazil for just the second time in his 33-fight professional career.

Alcantara has earned 24 of his 28 professional victories by knockout or submission.

Alcantara is undefeated in two fights since dropping to the UFC bantamweight division.

REMAINING MAIN CARD

Matt Brown's five-fight winning streak is tied for the third longest in the welterweight division behind Johny Hendricks (six) and Georges St-Pierre (11). His current streak is the longest of his 28-fight career.

Brown's seven knockout victories under the UFC banner are the most in welterweight history. He holds the highest significant strike accuracy of any 170-pound fighter in UFC history at 56.69%. "The Immortal" has scored six knockdowns in his UFC career, which is tied for fourth most in his weight class. He has finished his opponent by knockout or submission in 15 of his 17 professional wins.

Brown has also attempted the third most submissions in UFC welterweight history with 18, which is tied for third most behind Georges St-Pierre (22) and Chris Lytle (31). Oppositely, the 32-year-old is one of only seven fighters in UFC history to have suffered four or more submission losses inside the octagon.

Mike Pyle, 37, is the oldest active fighter in the UFC welterweight division.

Pyle's four-fight winning streak is tied for the fourth longest in the 170-pound division. Part of that streak includes three consecutive first-round knockout victories, a feat no other UFC welterweight has ever accomplished.

John Howard returns to the UFC for the first time since June 2011. "Doomsday" went 4-3 in his first stint with the promotion and has gone 6-1 since his release.

Howard's knockout of Dennis Hallman at the 4:55 mark of Round 3 at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale is the latest knockout ever in a three-round UFC fight.

Uriah Hall will enjoy an eight-inch reach advantage over Howard, the largest margin of any matchup on the 13-bout card.

Joe Lauzon has the third shortest average fight time in lightweight history at 6:28.

Lauzon is tied with former middleweight champion Anderson Silva for the most post-fight bonuses in UFC history at 12; he and/or his opponent have earned a post-fight bonus in his past nine UFC fights.

Lauzon has only fought to a decision once in his 30-fight career and has never won a fight that's gone the distance.

Michael Johnson has been submitted in six of his eight professional defeats.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Brad Pickett has earned post-fight bonuses in four of his five UFC fights for a total of $220,000.

Michael McDonald is tied with three other fighters for the most knockdowns landed in bantamweight history with three.

Conor McGregor has never fought to a decision in his 15-fight career, with the longest bout of his career to date lasting 9:10. Twelve of his 13 career wins have come via knockout.

McGregor's 67-second knockout of Marcus Brimage in his UFC debut was the fifth fastest knockout in UFC featherweight history. It was also the second fastest knockout by a debuting featherweight in UFC/WEC history, bested only by Pablo Garza's 51-second KO of Fredson Paixao at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale.

Max Holloway, 21, is the youngest active fighter on the UFC roster.

Holloway owns a 78.4% takedown defense rate, which is second in featherweight history behind 145-pound titleholder Jose Aldo (89.7%).

Holloway has landed 353 significant strikes in his UFC career, second in featherweight history behind Nam Phan (483). "Blessed" is tied with three other fighters for the most knockdowns landed in featherweight history with three.

Holloway's 6.07 strikes landed per minute are the most of any fighter in featherweight history and second overall in UFC history behind Cain Velasquez (6.50). His 71.3% significant strike defense is third best in UFC/WEC featherweight history.

Mike Brown will compete in just his third bout in a 24-month span.

Brown has landed 25 takedowns in his UFC/WEC career, more than any other 145-pound fighter in history. His 820 total strikes landed are the most ever by a UFC/WEC featherweight.

Steven Siler holds the record for third-most total strikes landed in UFC featherweight history at 444. "Super" has attempted seven submissions in his UFC career, third most in UFC/WEC featherweight history.

Of a combined 35 professional wins, Diego Brandao and Daniel Pineda have finished 32 of their opponents by knockout or submission.

Pineda is the only fighter in the past 50 UFC events to earn a kimura submission victory, a win that came against Justin Lawrence in his most recent fight, at April's The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale. Pineda has the highest submission attempt average per 15 minutes of fighting rate of any fighter in featherweight history at 2.8.

Pineda has earned the third, fourth and sixth fastest submission wins in UFC featherweight history at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, UFC on FX 1 and UFC on FX 2.

Pineda owns the shortest average fight time in the 145-pound division at 4:18.

Cole Miller will compete in his fourth bout since dropping to the featherweight division. He is 1-2 in his first three contests.

Miller's past six UFC victories are by submission, and his 21 submission attempts are the sixth most all-time in UFC history. His most recent decision win came against Leonard Garcia in September 2007.

Miller's submission of Jorge Gurgel at the 4:48 mark of Round 3 at UFC 86 is the latest submission victory ever in a three-round UFC fight.

At 6-3, James Vick is tied with Quinn Mulhern for tallest lightweight on the UFC roster.

"If I had a choice, I'd take 'Submission of the Night' every time," Lauzon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in a recent phone interview. "I don't think anyone's really looking for 'Fight of the Night.'"

There are a couple different reasons for that, according to Lauzon. For starters, all but one of his "Fight of the Night" bonuses have come after losses. While it's nice to have the extra money to fill in the gap left by the missing win bonus, and while the pairing of money and recognition can sometimes soothe some hurt feelings, Lauzon said, "No one's going out there thinking, well, I don't care that I lost as long as I got a bonus."

Then there's the other part, the part that's less about lost money and hurt feelings and more about lost blood and hurt body parts. As numerous fighters have pointed out in the past, the thing about getting "Fight of the Night" is, it usually means you got your head smashed in for at least part of the time you were in there.

For example, remember Lauzon's most recent fight? The one where he, for the second time in a row, netted a "Fight of the Night" bonus? I'll give you a hint: It's the one that left him looking like someone's bad Halloween costume for a week or so afterward. You might recall the way he helpfully documented his healing process on the UG forum. Or you might just remember him sitting in a pool of his own blood, forehead split wide open, trying for any submission he could think of before the clock ran out and Jim Miller was awarded the unanimous-decision victory.

What you might not have considered were the 40 stitches it took to close him up after that fight, or the multiple cuts on his face and scalp that each left their own little (or not so little) reminder of what he had to do to make that extra $65,000. Months later he was still undergoing a painful treatment to break up the scar tissue from that little adventure. It even kept him out of action for longer than he expected, so much so that he's only now returning after a nearly eight-month layoff.

That's a part of the exchange we don't always think about when we get caught up in the UFC bonus talk. It's not like it's free money. Not when you have to bleed that much for it. The really crazy part is, because of the twisted calculus that comes with the professional fighter career choice, Lauzon doesn't even consider the damage he suffered in the Miller fight to be all that bad.

"When I think about damage, I'm mostly concerned with head trauma," Lauzon said. "I'm not thinking about cuts or anything like that. I'm thinking about head trauma. In that one, I don't feel like I took a whole lot of head trauma. ... Now, when [Anthony] Pettis hit me, he kicked me right in the face. That knocked me silly. That was way worse than the Miller fight."

That's the kind of thing that Lauzon thinks about now, on the verge of his bout with Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night 26 this Saturday in Boston. Here he is, fighting in his home state of Massachusetts, leading off the main card in what the UFC hopes will be a successful launch of the brand new FOX Sports 1 network. Lauzon's been at this long enough to be able to do the math on that. He knows that the UFC doesn't put you in that spot if they don't think you'll deliver some excitement, but what kind? And at what cost?

"I'm not going out there thinking I need to kickbox with this guy, go the full 15 minutes and get everybody on their feet," Lauzon said. "If I have my way, I'll hit him, get him down, submit him in the first round, then get out of there while everybody's still wondering what happened. I'm not going to let the fact that this is a big fight dictate what I'm going to do."

The good news for Lauzon is, he has other options. He has a ground game and the willingness to use it. Especially against Johnson, who Lauzon insists is "not very good on the ground," he has other avenues to victory and even to bonuses. Others aren't so lucky. And knowing what he knows from hard-earned experience, Lauzon can't help but wonder what will become of those guys.

"My style is to take people down and try to submit them," Lauzon said. "I've had matches where I didn't get punched at all. I think my style is great for preserving my brain. You look at a guy like Leonard Garcia, that's what he does, is he goes out there, gets hit in the head and punches back. It's a test of will every time. Guys like that are going to have problems later on. Guys like me who are trying to get people down, maybe not so much. I hope not."